Mensa Otabil - It's Payback Time
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Exodus 11, verse 2: Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor, and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold. Payback time-that’s what God is telling the Hebrews. The people who have been slaves for so long have done slave labor for Egypt for 430 years, and they’ve not been paid; they’ve not received a just recompense for their effort. God is saying it’s time for you to receive the wages from the time of your ancestors to this time. So he says to Moses, «Speak to the hearing of the people.» This is God telling Moses to talk to Israel, not to Pharaoh; this message is for them.
By this time, it is obvious that the Jews are beginning to sense victory because they’ve been watching this power play going on. They’ve seen the hand of God come upon the land, and they have seen increasingly that in the last few plagues, their adversities and the pestilence do not touch them; it touches only Egypt. It doesn’t touch Israel, so they get a sense that it’s coming to an end. By this time, there is panic in the land; the economy is in shambles, animals have been destroyed, river bodies have been polluted-it’s just chaos in the land. If you are a Jew, you sense we are getting to the end, and now God comes to confirm it and says, «Get ready, there’s going to be a massive transfer of wealth.»
So he says to them, ask from your neighbors, both men and women. Talk to your neighbors and go and make demands for gold and silver. It’s amazing God didn’t say to go and make demands for anything less; except gold and silver, because gold and silver were the currency of the time. This is the highest currency-it’s like saying go and ask only for $100 bills. Go and ask for the highest currency because I’m about to transfer wealth that is due to you back to you. The asking is not go and beg; the asking there is to go and make a strong demand. It’s literally to ask for what is yours.
The Jews are asking not to borrow so they will return later on, but they are asking for good; they are receiving this for good. The lesson we learn here is very important: there is a time for God’s justice. There is a time for God’s restoration. There may be times when people are cheating you and taking away from you, and it may just seem as if you are being taken advantage of. God has a system of reward, and if we remain faithful to Him, if we stay with Him, and if we don’t lose heart and don’t faint, this moment will come when the people who have taken from you will give back to you, and they will give back to you without anything missing and anything broken. The same God who restored to Israel is the God we worship today, so if you trust Him and if you believe Him, and you feel cheated, and you feel someone has taken away from you, don’t throw up your hands in despair. Don’t just leave it; trust God, stay in faith, believe God, pray, and there will come this moment.
This moment is going to come in everybody’s life when injustice will end and justice will be established because God is a God of justice. May He bring you to that point where that which is due to you will be given back to you in full measure. Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, you are a God of justice. Today I request that the wages I have earned will be paid to me in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.»